Lahore private hostels problems | PU rusticates IJT students

Private hostels posing security threats. Mismanagement at hostels as owners only interested in cutting costs
Lahore, Mar 25: Private hostels of the city are posing
security threats, as poor management allows potential terrorists to use these
hostels to stay and plan activities elsewhere in the city.

Sources in the
Police Department said that private hostels do not take necessary
measures before renting out their rooms. The rules and regulations of most
hostels of the city are extremely lenient, allowing anyone to rent a room
without having to show identification or other documents. Sources said the
department does not have any data about these hostels.

Private hostels
are situated in the following areas: Gulberg Town, Mozang, Faisal Town,
Township, GOR-I, Garhi Shahu, Iqbal Town, Thokar Niaz Baig, Ichhra and
Cantonment. According to a survey conducted, around 40 private
hostels are situated in Gulberg while the total count of private hostels in the
city crosses 150.

Mismanagement: Most hostels of the city have not taken
any measures to enforce rules and regulations. They are owned and run by
businessmen who aim to maximise their profits by cutting down the costs.
Consequently, the hostels' security is compromised and many such hostels do not
even hire security guards.

In most hostels, there is an acute shortage of
administrative and maintenance staff. However, in hostels where administrative
officials are hired, the owners only question the staff about the monthly rent.
It has been learnt that private employees are running the hostels' affairs and
they do not focus on Standard Operation Procedure, as they are not professional
administrators. Muhammad Ismail, an administrative official at a private hostel,
said the hostel had displayed rules and regulations at the entrance lobby, but
it was difficult to implement them when the hostel was housing many more people
than it had space for.

No identification: An employee at Alnoor hostel
said students were only offered rooms after they submitted identity cards. He
said there were no frequent checks on the students' activities, as the hostel
was not responsible for that. Sources at the hostel said copies of identity
cards lying in the hostel's records were only a formality, as many people did
not hand their own identity cards knowing the hostel administration would not
bother to match the picture with their face.

A student at Noorani Hostel
in Firdos Market said students could accommodate guests at the hostel after
paying guest dues. He said the administration never checked the status of guests
and was only interested in the extra money generated through guest dues. He said
all sorts of people ended up visiting the hostel, and it provided a safe haven
to criminals and other proclaimed offenders.

Police: Meanwhile, sources
in the Police Department expressed concern over the security threats posed by
such private hostels. They said the police had previously seized dangerous
weapons from the Punjab University hostels and the problem had been persisting
since years.

Public Relations Officer to Operations Deputy Inspector
General of Police (DIG) Nayab Haider confirmed the police did not have any
record of private hostels in the city. Other sources in the Police Department
said the police had been instructed to prepare profiles of students residing in
private hostels and to collect data about the hostels and their administration
after the terrorist attacks at Liberty.

After the attacks, grenades and
bloodstained clothes were recovered from a hostel in Gulberg. Two Afghans and 10
locals were detained from these hostels while another 35 were taken into custody
for preliminary investigation. The police also seized five Kalashnikovs, 12 hand
grenades, 12 magazines and 1,280 bullets from the Punjab University hostels. Daily Times

Punjab University expels seven: Firing in hostel
Lahore: The Punjab University has expelled seven students and
rusticated another for their alleged involvement in a firing incident in hostel
16 on Dec 3.

PU Law College's two students had suffered bullet injuries
and nine others sustained minor injuries during a clash between two student
groups.

The university got affidavits from two students' fathers that
they would never indulge in any illegal activity in future. A student was asked
to submit a written statement from the warden that he would never indulge in any
illegal activity in future.

PU's discipline committee interrogated 14
students, including a persona non gratta, for firing, violence, torture and
indiscipline in the hostel.

A notification issued by PU Registrar Dr
Naeem Khan says the discipline committee afforded opportunity of personal
hearing to both parties – complainants/injured students and the
attackers/accused students. The committee held four meetings and thoroughly
investigated the case in its last meeting on March 4 and agreed that 11 students
were involved in violence, indiscipline, firing, torture of hostel students and
breach of code of conduct for students.

Sheikh Usman Ali of Hailey College of Commerce has been
rusticated. Muhammad Saqlain of the Institute of Statistics and Actuarial
Sciences and Ziaullah of the Institute of Business Administration have submitted
affidavits from their fathers that they would never indulge in any illegal
activity in future. Shahbaz Ali of Hailey College of Commerce has been asked to
submit a written statement from the warden that he would never indulge in any
illegal activity in future.

The university has also banned the entry of
expelled/rusticated students in the campus.

In a related development,
Islami Jamiat Tulaba PU Nazim Qaiser Sharif said at a news conference that the
university discipline committee was controversial and all of its members were
targeting IJT members. He said that IJT had asked the university to appoint
non-controversial members to the committee. Dawn

PU book fair
Lahore: The Punjab University (PU) administration has decided to organise the Book Fair 2009 from
April 9-11 this year. The decision for change of date was taken in a meeting of
book fair management committee held in the Vice-Chancellor's Office Committee
Room on Tuesday.

Call to abolish PU entrance test
Lahore: Opposing any type of entry test for admission to the
Punjab University, the Insaf Students Federation (ISF) has demanded the
abolition of entry test requirement for admission to MPhil and PhD programmes at
the university. According to a press statement, it was decided in the ISF
working committee that students would oppose any type of entry test for
admission to the Punjab University. The ISF members demanded the Chancellor/
Governor Punjab and Vice Chancellor abolish entry test system.

Punjab University farewell
Lahore: The Punjab University organised a farewell ceremony in the honour
of retiring faculty members of various departments.

According to a press
statement, Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran was the chief guest of the
ceremony. Senior faculty members and head of various teaching departments
attended the ceremony.

In his address, the VC paid a rich tribute to the
academic services of the retiring faculty. He said it was a sad as well as a
happy moment for him and other teachers of the varsity.

He said it was
sad because our fellows, with whom we have spent a part of our lives, were
departing now but it was also a happy moment because these faculty members had
performed their duties well to improve the educational standard of the varsity.

PPSC processes 2,15,558 applications for 6,774 posts
Lahore: The annual report of the Punjab Public Service Commission for the
year 2008, submitted to Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, revealed that the
commission had processed 2,15,558 applications for 6,774 vacant posts advertised
during 2008.

Acting Chairman Punjab Public Service Commission Shehzad
Hassan Pervaiz said the commission had also cleared a backlog of 81,187
applications of the previous year for 3,257 posts. After short listing on the
basis of academic record, 2,457 candidates were declared successful after
interview while no suitable candidate was found for 800 vacancies.

He
further told that out of 6,788 candidates, 2,000 candidates had appeared in the
written test for 912 vacancies in the competitive examination at the provincial
level out of which 128 candidates qualified while 61 candidates were finally
selected after detailed interview. Similarly, 106 Civil Judges and Judicial
Magistrates, 68 Deputy District Attorneys, 10 District Public Prosecutors, 82
Deputy District Public Prosecutors and 646 Assistant District Public Prosecutors
were also selected. Moreover, 74500 applications were received for 2602
vacancies of lecturers during this year while 34000 candidates appeared in the
written test for 500 vacancies of Assistant Sub-Inspectors and the process of
interview was completed by ten selection committees headed by the members of the
Public Service Commission.

In addition, 1,70,000 applications were under
process for different vacancies and the selection process would be completed in
2009.

The Governor appreciated the performance of the Punjab Public
Service Commissionand described it as a symbol of supremacy of merit in the
society.

He said that such institutions should be neutral in every
respect so that youth could be provided opportunity to move ahead on the basis
of their abilities and talent. He said that it was possible only if demands of
merit were upheld in the entire process of recruitment.

The governor also
considered proposals for improving the mental level of new graduates in the
light of the analysis report of the candidates for competitive examinations as
well as matters regarding granting of maximum autonomy to the Punjab Public
Service Commission in financial affairs and harmonizing the syllabus of
competitive examinations with the demands of the present age.

He
appreciated the fact that 90 per cent candidates who had passed the competitive
examination this year belonged to poor and middle class families and had studied
at public schools. The News

31 employees of GCU resign
Lahore: At least 31 employees of the Computer Science Department (CSD) of the Government College University (GCU),
including its chairman, teachers and naib qasids, have filed their resignations
with the registrar to protest against the behaviour of the GCU
administration.

In their resignations, CSD Chairman Dr Majid, Associate
Professor Sheraz Pervaiz, Assistant Professor Hamad Mushtaq, and others accused
GCU Registrar Faisal Khursheed of forcing them to admit students in violation of
merit. They claimed the registrar was pressuring them to influence the report of
an inquiry against him. They said their contracts had not been extended after
having lapsed three months ago. They alleged one Dr Asad Raza Kazmi had been
made assistant professor, but he did not have a computer science degree.

Talking to Aaj Kal, Khursheed denied all the charges. He said the
teachers were hired on a six-month contract and the contracts of the teachers
with better performance were extended. Daily Times

UK delegates discuss UVAS courses
Lahore: A two-member delegation from the University of Glasgow, UK,
called on University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Vice-Chancellor
Prof Dr Muhammad Nawaz on Tuesday and discussed joint academic and training
programmes.

According to a press statement, the delegation, comprising
Peter S Meadows and Azra Meadows, discussed a series of short training courses
in wildlife launched by the Department of Wildlife and Ecology of the UVAS in
collaboration with the University of Glasgow and the University of Essex, UK.

Peter Meadows and Azra Meadows are also among the course coordinators of
the short training courses which are being offered on both the City and Ravi
campuses of the university.

The vice-chancellor briefed the delegates
about the academic, research, training and extension programmes of the UVAS. The
University of Glasgow and the UVAS had signed a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) for academic cooperation last year during the visit of Vice-Chancellor
Prof Dr Muhammad Nawaz to the United Kingdom. The News

Jaish madrassa operates in Bahawalpur despite ban
Bahawalpur: The compound bore no sign. Residents referred
to it simply as the school for "jihadis," speaking in awe of the expensive
horses stabled within its high walls - and the extremists who rode them bareback
in the dusty fields around it.

In classrooms nearby, teachers drilled
boys as young as eight in an uncompromising brand of Islam that called for holy
war against enemies of the faith. Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the Darul
Uloom Madina school, they recited verses from the holy Quran.

Both
facilities are run by an Al Qaeda-linked terror network, Jaish-e-Muhammed, in
the heart of Punjab. Their existence raises questions about the government's
pledge to crack down on terror groups' accused of high-profile attacks in
Pakistan and India.

Jihadis: There, would-be jihadis practice martial
arts, archery and horse-riding skills and get religious instruction, according
to a former member of Jaish-e-Muhammed, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.

"You can say Jaish is running its business as usual," said
Amir Rana, from Pakistan's Institute for Peace Studies, which tracks militant
groups. "The military wants to keep alive its strategic options in Kashmir. The
trouble is you cannot restrict the militants to one area. You cannot keep
control of them."

Recruit: A top police officer said the madrassas in the
area were used to recruit teens and young men for jihad in the NWFP or in
Afghanistan. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of
the issue.

A guard wielding an automatic weapon stood at the gate of the
Usman-o-Ali school and turned a visiting journalist team away. But the head
teacher at nearby Darul uloom Madina allowed the group a tour and an
interview.

Attaur Rehman said none of the students were allowed to be
recruited for jihad while studying there, but added that he could not stop them
joining up after they graduated.

"Pakistani citizens, and especially
Punjabis, are the Taliban trainers in the area for bomb-making," said Asadullah
Sherzad, police chief in Afghanistan's insurgency-wracked Helmand province,
adding there are around 100 Punjabis at any one time in that area of
Afghanistan.

A police officer in Bahawalpur said Jaish members were not
believed to be training with weapons in the town's schools and other facilities,
adding that law enforcement agencies had infiltrated the group. He spoke on
condition of anonymity because sections of the government and security agencies
disagreed on the need to crack down on the group.

Jaish is believed to
have been formed in 2000 by hard-line cleric Masood Azhar after he was freed
from an Indian prison in exchange for passengers on a hijacked Indian Airlines
flight that landed in southern Afghanistan the same year.

Azhar was born
in Bahawalpur, though the government says his current whereabouts are not known.
A small stall outside the Usman-o-Ali school sells his speeches and writings. Ap